Aptitude, Achievement & Intelligence Scores

Data collected: The following three surveys, conducted independently of the regular NLSY79 interviews, collected aptitude and intelligence score information: 

• Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), a special survey administered in 1980 to the 1979 sample of NLSY79 respondents (see table 1)
• High School Survey, a 1980 survey of high schools, which used school records to collect scores from various aptitude/intelligence tests and college entrance examinations administered during the youth's high school career (see table 2)
• Transcript Survey, a 1980-83 collection of high school transcript information, which included the gathering of math and verbal scores from such tests as the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), and the American College Test (ACT) (see table 2) 

ASVAB Administration: During the summer and fall of 1980, NLSY79 respondents participated in an effort of the U.S. Departments of Defense and Military Services to update the norms of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB).  The Department of Defense and Congress, after questioning the appropriateness of using the World War II reference population as the primary basis for interpreting the enlistment test scores of contemporary recruits, decided in 1979 to conduct this new study.  NLSY79 respondents were selected since they composed a nationally representative sample of young people born during the period 1957 through 1964.  This testing, which came to be referred to as the "Profile of American Youth," was conducted according to standard ASVAB procedural guidelines.  

Profile of American Youth:

• Respondents were paid $50.
• Five to ten persons were tested at more than 400 test sites, including hotels, community centers, and libraries throughout the United States and abroad. 
• 11,914 civilian and military NLSY79 respondents (or 94 percent of the 1979 sample) completed this test including: 
  • 5,766 or 94.4 percent of the cross-sectional sample.
  • 4,990 or 94.2 percent of the supplemental sample.
  • 1,158 or 90.5 percent of the military sample.

The ASVAB consists of a battery of 10 tests that measure knowledge and skill in the following areas:

• general science
• arithmetic reasoning
• word knowledge
• paragraph comprehension
• numerical operations
• coding speed
• auto and shop information
• mathematics knowledge
• mechanical comprehension
• electronics information 

The following variables are available for each youth tested: 

• raw scores
• scale scores
• standard errors
• sampling weight
• high school graduation status
• whether the test was completed under normal or altered testing conditions

A composite score derived from select sections of the battery can be used to construct an approximate and unofficial Armed Forces Qualifications Test score (AFQT) for each youth.  The AFQT, developed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), is a general measure of trainability and a primary criterion of enlistment eligibility for the Armed Forces.  Three AFQT percentile scores, an AFQT-1, AFQT-2 and an AFQT-3, were created for each Profiles respondent and are described below. 

AFQT-1: To construct AFQT-1, the raw scores from the following four sections of the ASVAB are summed: 

• Section 2 (arithmetic reasoning),
• Section 3 (word knowledge),
• Section 4 (paragraph comprehension),
• and one half of the score from Section 5 (numerical operations). 

AFQT-2: Beginning in January 1989, DOD began using a new calculation procedure. The numerical operations section of the AFQT-1 had a design inconsistency resulting in respondents getting tests that differed slightly and resulted in slight completion rate differences.

Creation of this revised percentile score, called AFQT-2, involves:

• computing a verbal composite score by summing word knowledge and paragraph comprehension raw scores;
• converting subtest raw scores for verbal, math knowledge, and arithmetic reasoning;
• multiplying the verbal standard score by two;
• summing the standard scores for verbal, math knowledge, and arithmetic reasoning;
• converting the summed standard score to a percentile.

AFQT-3: In 2006 the AFQT-2 scores were renormed controling for age so that the AFQT can be used comparatively with the NLSY97. For this reason NLS staff recommend using the AFQT-3. Although the formula is similar to the AFQT score generated by DOD for the NLSY79 cohort, this variable reflects work done by NLS program staff and is neither generated nor endorsed by DOD.

To calculate the AFQT-3, NLS Program staff first grouped respondents into three-month age groups. That is, the oldest cohort included those born from January through March of 1957, while the youngest were born from October through December 1964, a total of 32 cohorts, with an average of about 350 respondents per cohort (there was one unusually small cohort: the youngest cohort has only 145 respondents). The revised dates of birth from the 1981 survey (R0410100 and R0410300) were used whenever these disagreed with the information from the 1979 survey. With the revised birth dates, a few respondents were born outside the 1957-1964 sampling space of the survey.

Those born before 1957 were assigned to the oldest cohort, while those born after 1964 were assigned to the youngest cohort. ASVAB sampling weights from the Profiles section were used (R0614700). Within each three-month age group and using the sampling weights, staff assigned percentiles for the raw scores for the tests on Mathematical Knowledge (MK), Arithmetic Reasoning (AR), Word Knowledge (WK), and Paragraph Comprehension (PC) based on the weighted number of respondents scoring below each score (ties are given half weight). Staff added the percentile scores for WK and PC to get an aggregate Verbal score (V) for which an aggregated intra-group, internally normed, percentile was then computed. NLS Program staff then added the percentile scores for MK, AR and two times the aggregated percentile for V. Finally, within each group we computed a percentile score, using the weights, on this aggregate score, yielding a final value between zero and 100.  Note there are three implied decimal places.

References

Bock, R. Darrell and Moore, Elsie G.J.  Advantage and Disadvantage:  A Profile of American Youth.  Hillsdale, NJ:  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1986.
U.S. Department of Defense.  "Profile of American Youth: 1980 Nationwide Administration of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery."  Washington, DC:  Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower, Reserve Affairs, and Logistics), March 1982.

Table 1. Aptitude & Intelligence Tests:ASVAB (Profiles) Testing

High School Survey: During April through October 1980, a separate survey was conducted of U.S. high schools attended by civilian NLSY79 respondents.  This school survey obtained information about the characteristics of each school.  It also gathered respondent-specific information that included scores from various intelligence and aptitude tests administered during the respondents' schooling. 

Data are available for tests such as the:

• California Test of Mental Maturity
• Differential Aptitude Test
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

A variety of other tests are available including college entrance examinations such as the:

• Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT)
• Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)
• American College Test (ACT)

The following types of information are available for each test taken: 

• IQ score
• national percentile score
• date (month/year) the test was administered
• student's grade level at the time of testing

A modest number (1,058 or 9.1 percent) of civilian NLSY79 respondents has one or more such scores available from the high school survey; additional scores may be available from the transcript survey.

Transcript Surveys: High school transcript information was collected during 1980, 1981, and 1983 for those civilian respondents who were expected to complete high school in the United States.  While the focus of these surveys was course and grade information, math and verbal scores from the PSAT, the SAT, and the ACT were also collected.  One or more (sub)scores for at least one test are available for 2,434 (21.3 percent) of civilian NLSY79 respondents.  Additional information, including references to technical reports on these surveys, can be found in the "School & Transcript Surveys" section of this guide.

References

National Center for Research in Vocational Education and Center for Human Resource Research.  NLSY High School Transcript Survey:  Overview and Documentation.  Columbus, OH:  CHRR, The Ohio State University.

Table 2 provides an alphabetical listing of the tests from the high school, and transcript surveys and the number of respondents for whom scores are available.

Table 2. Aptitude & Intelligence Tests: NLSY79 School Survey and Transcript Survey Testing

Knowledge of the World of Work: One assessment, an abbreviated version of the "Knowledge of the World of Work" scale, was directly administered to the young men and women of the NLSY79 in 1979.  This set of questions (R00260.-R00268.) asks respondents to pick one of three statements that best describes the duties of each of 10 commonly held jobs.  A total score can be calculated by awarding one point for each correct answer (Kohen and Breinich, 1975; Parnes and Kohen, 1975; Parnes, et al., 1970).

This question has an age restriction in that all respondents were asked questions concerning their thoughts on certain kinds of jobs that people actually do. Respondents who were 14-15 years old were skipped out at Q.2. 

Comparison to Other NLS Cohorts

Extensive information on the cognitive development of children born to female respondents of the NLSY79 is available.  The NLSY97 collected three specific achievement tests reported by the respondent--the SAT I, American College Test (ACT), and Advanced Placement (AP) test.  Achievement test scores were collected during special transcript or school surveys for the Young Women, and the Young Men.  Available scores for respondents in the Young Men's and Young Women's cohorts are primarily from the California Test of Maturity and the Otis/Beta/Gamma; a few respondents have SAT I or ACT scores recorded, and a wide variety of other tests are also included.

From the summer of 1997 through the spring of 1998, most NLSY97 round 1 respondents participated in the administration of the computer-adaptive form of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (CAT-ASVAB).  AFQT scores were generated by NLS staff for the NLSY97 and can be used comparativly with the NLSY79 AFQT-3 scores. NLSY97 respondents were also administered The Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT).  Consult the BLS website at www.bls.gov/nls or the NLSY97 User's Guide for more information.

References

National Center for Research in Vocational Education and Center for Human Resource Research.  NLSY High School Transcript Survey:  Overview and Documentation.  Columbus, OH:  CHRR, The Ohio State University.

Parnes, Herbert S. and Kohen, Andrew I. "Occupational Information and Labor Market Status:  The Case of Young Men."  Journal of Human Resources. 10 (1): 44-55, 1975.

Parnes, Herbert S., Miljus, Robert C. and Spitz, Ruth S.  Career Thresholds:  A Longitudinal Study of the Educational and Labor Market Experience of Male Youth.  Vol. I.  U.S. Department of Labor Manpower Research Monograph No. 16.  Washington, DC:  U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970.

U.S. Department of Defense.  "Profile of American Youth: 1980 Nationwide Administration of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery."  Washington, DC:  Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower, Reserve Affairs, and Logistics), March 1982.

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